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Kid: Look mommy,
she's crawling on the wall, like Spider-Man!
Mom: You've been reading too many comic books.
Hey folks, I’m a professed comic book geek,
so anything that comes my way in the form of superheroes, then you’ll
have to endure it, if you’re tired of the cape and web-slinging crap.
“Mosaic” lured me because, well, anything these days that doesn’t look
like quasi-anime made just gets a pass with me, and “Mosaic” gets a pass
for looking like honest to goodness animation. “Mosaic” is made up to
look like a moving comic book. Wherein the recent Marvel cheap-o
cash-ins, “Mosaic,” from Stan Lee’s Company “Pow” entertainment, seeks
to be unique, while also possessing the same novelty of a comic, fonts
and all. But don’t let the animation fool you, it’s not something I’d
suggest for anyone under fifteen, basically because watching the villain
break a guard’s neck, was something that drew a furrow of the brow. But
hey, the writing by Scott Lobdell paired with Anna Paquin’s name really
drew me to this fantasy actioner, I must say. Maggie is an aspiring
actress whose dad is an adventurer and special investigator. After being
hurt by a mysterious alien, Maggie is endowed with the powers of a race
of chameleon people who have special abilities.
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Learning her abilities to read people’s DNA,
as well discovering a variety of different powers which
include masquerading as random folks on the street. What’s
most interesting about “Mosaic” is that it bears a clever
unofficial connection to the Spider-Man universe making the
allusion that the chameleon people here are the possible
race of the Spider-Man villain “The Chameleon,” while the
villain Mannequin has an undeniable resemblance to the
villain. |
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“Mosaic” is otherwise a passable and cute
film about a female superhero that just seems to have a ball
demonstrating these powers of hers. These days it’s almost a rule to
have superheroes that brood, and Maggie is a welcome change. She has
fun, like Spider-Man, and accepts her role as this savior who has to
rescue her father, when he’s kidnapped. Anna Paquin’s voice work is
crisp, and she makes the character likable and a lot less artificial in
her blonde dreamy eyed frame. The story of the chameleon race, and its
lore is fascinating with Maggie set on her mission, and facing the fact
that her father may become her worst enemy as the events unfold. The
animation can tend to falter, but it’s an all around competent
production with more attempts to topple the two-dimensional hand drawn
universe our tale sets down on. “Mosaic” is the name of Maggie’s partner
in unveiling the plot of the evil Mannequin, and it’s also the title of
a pretty entertaining superhero flick.
Though if you’re searching for something you
haven’t seen before, then you’d probably be more successful looking
elsewhere. “Mosaic” doesn’t strive for complete originality. A girl
struck by lightning, who is brainy yet attractive, and really learns her
powers by accident with sequences resembling Spider-Man, it’s all been
done before and then some. I was searching for something new in this
generic hero tale. But there simply was nothing here that popped or
promised to stick in my collective memory. I won’t remember the lame
villain’s grand plot a week from now, I won’t remember what Maggie’s
last name was. All I’ll remember is that “Mosaic” really hasn’t covered
any ground that’s never been covered by others. It’s not a memorable
film, and it’s barely good.
Ultimately, I would have had much more fun
watching Anna Paquin jump rope, but for what it tries to bring to the
table, “Mosaic” is a cute and entertaining little hero fantasy. I’m a
sucker for them.
- Stan Lee
provides a voice and visual cameo as a lobby guard at the
headquarters.
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